Pollinating The Purple Passionflower

Photograph of a bee on a purple passionflower by Doug Couvillion

A variety of pollinators were active on the Purple Passionflowers in a meadow I hiked in early August. The bumble bees seemed to be running things, perfectly sized to gather the pollen from the down turned stamen of the passionflowers. In fact, most of the yellow above this bee’s wings is a thick coating of pollen.

Seed Pod

photograph of a seed podI can’t identify the plant which produced this seed pod but I can confidently say it wasn’t a dandelion.  It was low, leggy bush with dried up leaves when I took this photo in November.  Regardless of my ignorance, I thought the plant’s seed pod was worthy of a close up photo.

Mistflower After the Rain

photograph of a mistflower plant after a rain stormI came upon these mistflowers in a meadow, after a rain storm in early September.  The rain drops weighed down the flowers and made them difficult to identify.  Regardless, these wildflowers provided the meadow with a pop of purple color.